tmac13

I think the Clips have lost interest in Smoove just as Philly did. I think he is viewed around the league as a tweener with a questionable attitude. He may also not be a guy who does well in the face to face meetings with GMs and coaches. He was Philly's and the Clip's 1st option but both seemed to back away quickly after he met with them. On top of that he is a different kind of power forward than teams covet. He really doesn't have a postup game and he is erratic at best with his outside shot. Most teams look for some aspect of a players offensive game they can rely on and Smoove just hasn't developed any great strength on the offensive end at this point of his carreer. Fortunately these things might help the Hawks get him at their price.

I am inclined to agree with you. Looking at available point guards the choices are really slim. If you could get a guy with Marbury's talent in the cheap side and use Bibby's expiring contract to get an impact big I think its worth exploring. As far as Law being ready to start I doubt it. He will have to earn it and hope Woody finds some patience.

I think Salim is gone. I think Jeremy Richardson and Solo are on the bubble. Then of course there is the drama concerning the Josh's. If Speedy shows can can give us anything I assume he will be the 3rd point guard taking Salims place.

Marion might be more available to the Clips than Randolph. Miami is desperate for a point guard but if the Clips threw a 1st rounder at them Miami might bite since they have Beasley.

Playing with consistent intensity and winning.

First of all the most likely scenario is the Clips trying to lowball Smoove and the Hawks simply matching. However if they do offer an unbelievable contract that the Hawks don't feel they can match they will not be offering Kaman in a SNT deal. Kaman is a top 5 or 6 center in the entire NBA and offering him for Smoove simply makes no sense for the Clips. Looking at their roster the option the Hawks might be able to work is their rookies. Eric Gordon and DeAndre Jordan. Gordon would be a nice fit for the Hawks as he is a deadly shooter that could pair nicely in the backcourt with either JJ or Bibby. He is a bigger version of Salim that actually plays defense. Jordan is raw but has a huge wingspan and alot of development potential. He was projected as a mid first rounder but slipped as the draft approached and the Clips grabbed him in the 2nd round. I thought at the time he might be the steal of the entire draft..Taking back a couple of rookie contracts would allow the Hawks to resign Chillz and still have enough left to pursue a starting 4 or 5. Thoughts?

This is a strange argument. You are justifying BK's drafting record by saying he didn't take the worst player? Diaw..No, he wasn't the worst player drafted that night. As a matter of fact he has been a decent player for a good team the last 3 years. The problem with the Hawks is that BK thought he was a point guard. The 2 Josh's..Definately a good draft. Mostly because he Hawks lucked out that Smoove lasted until 17th. Chillz is not as good as Iggy or Deng but Smoove is better than both..Go figure. Marvin Marvin Marvin...BK chose an very ordinary small forward( a position that was already occupied by 4 players on the Hawks) over 2 future Hall of fame point guards..A gigantic blunder he will never live down. Sheldon over Roy....Wow Horford and Law..BK finally got it right on his last try..

I agree about Okafur. If he is injury free I would also place more value on him than Smoove as he is a true big. Especially in the west with all the quality big men the Clips have to face on a nightly basis. The injury question with Okafur is the kicker.

A more likely scenario may be the Hawks matching any number for Smoove and then trading Bibby to Golden State in order to free up money. The Hawks would then cross their fingers and hope Speedy could at least back up Acie.

Having him walk would be a terrible blow, we at least need to get some quality talent in return. However, paying Smoove a max deal is hard to swallow. He is our 2nd best player right now but I have a feeling that Horford will surpass him as our 2nd best player in short order. That would leave us in a big bind when it comes time to extend Horford and resign JJ in 2 years.

They could play hardball, but the simple fact is they still have to resign Igoudala, Williams and Speight(their 1st round pick). Igoudala will get big buck, Williams will get decent bucks and Speight will get 20th pick money. I suspect even a team with deep pockets like Philly will have to do some choosing of who to keep and who to let go. I think Speight and Williams would not only fill needs for the Hawks but would also match pretty close to the money we can take back.

Any conversations need to start with Louis Williams and Marreese Speights along with future 1sts. I agree 5 years and 80 million is simply too much. That could seriously hinder our ability to resign Horf in a few years. There seem to be conflicting reports on who Philly is really after. If they get rebuffed by Brand then they might throw a huge offer at Smoove.

Dolfan23 has as much right to his opinion as anyone else here. The fact there are so many Hawks fans with so many different views is what makes this board interesting. He and the other mods do a great job of keeping the board updated and working great and we should all be thankful they put their time and effort into something that gives us all a small source of pleasure.

I respect what you say but its hard to imagine they are "too busy" waiting on the Josh's to make the rounds and get an offer so we can match it. The fact remains we need better backups than Solo and Jeremy Richardson if we want to become a better team. As far as management changing it hasn't. The middleman has changed but every other piece from the last 4 years is still in place. Tthe Hawks have never been aggressive or proactive other than the JJ signing in the ASG's entire tenure.

" The Celtics have continued their search for a big man this summer by working out a handful of players over the holiday weekend, according to The Boston Globe. Patrick O'Bryant, Chris Andersen, David Harrison, and Kirk Snyder were among the players that took the court for an audition in front of Celtics' General Manager Danny Ainge. Undrafted rookies Wisconsin's Brian Butch and Detroit Mercy's Ryvon Covile also were in Boston for a workout. Via The Boston Globe" When you are looking at guys on the lower end of the bench its not a matter of how much you can afford. Its a matter of using your exceptions and veterans minimum spots wisely. The Celtics have no "extra" money to spend but they are still trying to address needs. Its not that any of these guys are huge difference makers but why not try to get the very best available talent for the lowest cost to fill out the bench instead of waiting till its picked over.They Hawks usually wait till the preseason to complete their roster and always fill the last few spots with lessor talent because they wait.

When have the Hawks ever done anything like Boston is doing this week? When have they brought in 4 or 5 free agents to workout together? Good teams are proactive in their pursuit of needs. The Hawks let teams like Boston pick up the better talent available then are left digging in the scrap heap.

I get so tired of reading articles about other teams conducting "big man" free agent camps and actually inviting free agents to town to court their services for minimum contracts while the Hawks staff sits back and does absolutely nothing. Even if all goes well and we resign Smoove and Chillz the Hawks desperately need a big and a shooter. Why not bring a few guys in to workout and let them get to know the city and team? For years the Hawks seem to sit back while other teams pick off the prime low budget guys and we end up with the Pig Millers of the world.

I am curious what the board thinks the Hawks will do if Smoove gets an offer the Hawks feel they can't match? Would they simply resign Chillz and move Marvin to the 4? Would they try to go the cheap route and just sign a guy like Kwame Brown and shift Horford to the 4? Would they trade the expiring contract of Bibby to fill a couple of needs? Maybe Biiby to the Knicks for Crawford and Curry( which I am sure the Knicks might jump at since D'Antoni needs a real point to run his offense and it would free the Knicks of 2 large deals). Before I get mugged I am not proposing that just throwing out options. Thoughts?

I think the fear lives on both sides of Josh Smith. If we sign him to a huge deal and commit to pay him for the next 6 years is he going to improve? Is he going to turn into a bad attitude with a huge contract? Is he ever going to understand the mental part of the game? Is he going to dedicate himself to being an all-star power forward or is he going to still try to play a small forwards offensive game? The flip side of the fear is our ownership group can't afford to pay him regardless of the salary cap or luxury tax situations and he signs elsewhere and becomes the player many here thinks he can be. All and all this is one of the most complicated resignings any team has had to deal with in quite some time. There are just so many unknowns.

For the record I am on the wait and see approach to Rick Sund. He has had a little success and a little failure in his time as a GM. . He has drafted poor and traded well. He actually reminds me alot of Pete Babcock who is widely despised on this board. Babcock until his last 2 years as GM here had a much better track record than Sund has ever achieved. It will be interesting to see how he is regarded in a few years.

I have to agree with you KB. I can't fault a coach who has been to four conference finals. Larry Brown had far less competition in the east than Flip has had to deal with. Larry Brown also had a much younger version of the same team. If anything, I have been surprised Detroit has maintained such success with this current team. Is Flip the greatest coach ever? No.. Is Flip a gigantic improvement over Woody? Yes!

This team is incredibly hard to watch lately. We struggle to beat awful teams at home and generally get the fire beat out of us on the road. We may back into the playoffs by the process of elimination but to what end? To have Detroit or Boston embarrass the crap out of us in 4 games..If we don't make the playoffs its even worse. We give up a lottery pick. Either way this team is very flawed and needs to rehauled. I am not talking about blowing it up like BK already did before, but some of the core pieces on this team just don't mesh. As much as I see potential in Josh Smith I also see a tweener without an outside shot who loves to shoot the outside shot. Can another coach stop this? Maybe, maybe not. Either way I can't see him as a max or near max paid player. For every good thing he does he counters it with a bonehead play. I am thinking more and more we need to move him in a sign and trade for a starting center and move Horf to the pf spot. Maybe to Philly for Daly? Just a thought. Chillz is another guy I see demanding fairly large dollars that I don't want to invest in. He has a nice garbage type game but is another guy that is more athlete than basketball player. I would eitehr let him walk and use the money on a real shooter to back up the 2/3 or move him for that in a sign and trade. I would love to pick up a Kyle Korver type player to spot up for the 3 so JJ has options when he gets doubled. Thoughts?

Thats pitiful, just the sad state of the eastern conference.

Any change would be good at this point. Larry Drew, Dominique, hell let BK coach the last 30 games. Woodson has to go now. If the ASG doesn't make a change then they don't care about winning and everything they have proclamed in the past is a lie. Come-on ASG, put up or shut up.

BK has talent because the Hawks have been awful. . Any GM that drafts in the top 6 four years in a row should at least accidentally acquire some talent. . Even saying that it doesn't take a basketball guru to see that every single draft pick outside of Horford and Smooth were questionable.In fact some of them(Marvin over Paul, Sheldon over Roy) have been outright blunders.. BK has not drafted any better than the average fan on this board could have drafted, and that is a sad fact..